Aldermen Propose Substitute Trust Ordinance

A group of aldermen and the Better Government Association want to rewrite the mayor's infrastructure trust ordinance, making the trust an explicit part of city government.

Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) release a substitute ordinance on Monday, a day before the scheduled City Council vote on the mayor's trust. The ordinance was written by Waguespack, Ald. Bob Fioretti (2nd), Leslie Hairston (5th), Toni Foulkes (15th), Nick Sposato (36th), and John Arena (45th), with input from the BGA and the city's inspector general, he said.

Many of the changes explicitly create the trust as a Chicago "program." That would ensure the Inspector General had the authority to investigate the trust, and to make sure state transparency laws applied. The mayor has insisted those laws will already apply to the group, but according to the Inspector General, the ordinance would have to "indicate" all trust documents were public records.

The substitute ordinance also creates an independent financial advisor to evaluate the trust's deals. The mayor said he would sign an executive order creating the advisor, but some critical aldermen have expressed concern that the order would not apply to future mayors.

View the substitute ordinance, and see what its major changes are, below: